Wednesday, 12 October 2011

MLLA Vegan sausage rolls

I happily gave up most meat when I went vegetarian but not sausage rolls. I tried a few different permutations until I discovered Liz O'Brien's recipe, thanks to Where's the Beef. More recently Cindy and Michael have veganised their sausage rolls. I tried their version with silken tofu and it was too soft. It was a while ago so my vague memory is that I tried to make it gluten free as well. Too ambitious. I tried vegan sausage rolls again on the weekend and had a great success thanks to both tofu and chia seeds.

I had decided to use what I had on hand rather than running out to the shops. I loved Adam's idea of using both firm and silken tofu when making scrambled tofu. I thought my (Blue Lotus) tofu might be soft enough to mash some and puree some. It was all crumble. Check out the food processor in picture below. Not soft enough to hold my mixture together. So I turned to my latest love - chia seeds. I soaked them a bit and added them to the mixture. Then I added enough water until it clumped together.

I will pause here to say that when I went vegetarian I was amazed at how much variety vegetables offered compared to meat. Similarly, in vegan cooking I love how there is an infinite variety of alternatives to eggs and milk. Overwhelming but so very useful. I was pleased that, having no eggs in the house, nor silken tofu, that I could still easily find ingredients to bind the mixture.

I also loved Shauna's idea of using grated carrot in her version of these sausage rolls. Before I discovered this combination of nuts, oats and binder to imitate meat, I always grated vegetables in my sausage rolls. So in went a couple of old carrots. She also added fresh herbs which I intend to try some time.

I make sausage rolls often. It is such a brilliant recipe. Great for entertaining. An easy weekend meal. Even Sylvia was nibbling on a couple. The recipe makes far more than the three of us can eat. Most of them are in the freezer. You never know when you will need some.

* I chopped these in the food processor, as advised by Cindy but I have done these by hand easily enough in the past.

Place chia seeds in 1/4 cup water and set aside while preparing other ingredients. Combine remaining filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the chia seed mixture. Check the consistency and add a few tablespoons water if needed. I added about 3-4 extra tablespoons of water. The mixture should come together into chunks but not be too moist. Check seasoning.

Thaw 3 to 4 sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry. Place the first sheet on a flat surface and cut it in half, into two rectangles. Spoon the filling down the centre third of each rectangle. Brush one long edge with soy milk and fold in the long edges so the one with soy milk overlaps the other edge.

Repeat with other pieces of puff pastry. Brush with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place sausage rolls seam down on a greased or baking-paper lined baking tray. Use a sharp knife to slash marks across the pastry. I make 5 marks to indicate where I will cut them when they are partially cooked. This is much easier than cutting the raw pastry and it stops the ends drying out.

Fill all the pastry and bake sausage rolls at 220C for 20 minutes. I cut up the sausage rolls at this point. The ones that you want to eat now should be returned to the oven for an additional 10 minutes or til golden brown.

Cool any rolls that you don’t want to eat (on a wire rack). These can be frozen for later. The leftovers can go straight from the freezer into a 220 C oven to cook for 15 minutes.

Well I'll have to give your version a try next time I'm out of silken tofu, they do look fantastic. I still make Cindy's recipe often as they are so popular and usually throw in a bit a chopped parsley if I have some around. Chia is something I am yet to try but I keep seeing recipes that use it everywhere, must get onto it!

This is so much my kind of recipe--sounds fantastic. I always drool over your pastry recipes and then lament that I can't have the actual pastry! I'm going to have to find a replacement for the puff pastry, though, just so I can try these. :)

Thanks Kari - I loved sausage rolls but vegan ones are just so much nicer than meaty ones - and they make so many that I often freeze them or else it would be dangerous to keep eating them

Thanks Jeni - hope you love them too

Thanks Mel - I am in love with chia seeds - they have only a slight crunch and go gluey in the same way as flax seeds so are a great egg substitute - we have firm tofu around the house far more than silken so this sort of recipe suits me

Thanks Genkikitty - hope you don't wait long to try them

Thanks Keira - this version is not that hard and it is far more like the sausage rolls I grew up with than a sausage in pastry

Thanks Ricki - I would love to see what you come up with instead of puff pastry - I think short crust pastry works too but puff pastry is convenient to buy (whereas I never buy short crust pastry because I tell myself I can make that)

Thanks Lisa - I have tried a version of these sausage rolls with a mashed potato gf pastry - it worked ok but the pastry was more difficult to use - I know my mum occasionally gets gf puff pastry for my sister but it isn't quite as good as regular - but with a bit of experimenting I am sure you could find a good pastry

Thanks Joanne - I highly recommend the recipe if you are missing sausages - it fulfills a need for comfort and nostalgia for me

Yay, I'm glad you found a way to make these work for you! I know lots of folks who tend to add grated veg bits to them. Unless I'm making them for a party we always have leftovers too - I tend to freeze the filling and just roll 'em up when I want more.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.